LONDON, June 27, 2026, 16:02 BST
- British American Tobacco jumped 9.5% across the five sessions to June 26, finishing at 4,751p. Shares climbed every day in that stretch.
- British American Tobacco is starting a closed-period buyback with UBS AG London Branch running from June 30 through July 29, the day before its half-year results.
- Cash returns for the stock remain linked to the low end of 2026 guidance, with global cigarette volumes looking softer.
British American Tobacco p.l.c. (LON:BATS) faces a new question next week. The company heads in with its closed-period buyback still running, but group guidance hasn’t changed. Shares have climbed, but now investors are watching to see if the buyback alone can push the share count lower.
The Lucky Strike and Dunhill maker finished Friday at 4,751p, up 1.13% for the session. Shares climbed every day last week, starting at 4,337p last Friday and gaining 9.5% total. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.21% on Friday, AJ Bell data showed.
Friday’s move tells only part of the story for holders. With BAT valued at £102.61 billion at the close, its £1.3 billion 2026 buyback makes up about 1.3% of equity. Factor in AJ Bell’s quoted dividend yield of 5.43%, and BAT’s combined cash return pushes close to 6.7%, not counting any shift in earnings.
BAT said June 26 it has made a deal with UBS AG London Branch for a buyback running from June 30 to July 29, right before its half-year prelims. UBS calls the shots on trades, not BAT. Shares bought back will be cancelled.
BAT’s rally is outpacing what the company last told investors. On June 2, BAT said it sees New Category revenue up in the mid-teens for both the first half and full year. Group revenue and adjusted operating profit were kept at the low end of its 3%-5% and 4%-6% targets. BAT also now expects global cigarette industry volume to fall about 2.5%, an increase from the 2% drop it guided earlier.
BAT CEO Tadeu Marroco said the group’s “full-year delivery remains firmly on track” and New Categories should hit “mid-teens for 2026.” BAT said Velo Plus boosted its total U.S. Modern Oral volume share by 10.4 percentage points, while Vuse added 4.2 points of U.S. value share. Bat
The stock slipped after the update earlier in June. Some investors had expected BAT to raise group guidance after a U.S. policy shift on vape enforcement. Barclays analyst Pallav Mittal told Reuters the company is being cautious because of uncertainty about fallout from the Iran war. Marroco told analysts the U.S. unlicensed vape market is worth £7 billion. “The size of the prize is very high,” he said. Reuters
Buybacks could hide the split in the business instead of solving it. Velo and Vuse keep growing in top markets, but heated tobacco isn’t as strong. Glo is set to see a low double-digit drop in revenue for both the first half and full year, hurt by Japan inventory changes and more competition in the value segment.
Hargreaves Lansdown’s Derren Nathan said BAT’s New Category sales showed “strong momentum.” The traditional tobacco business is still the “core profit engine,” he wrote. Nathan said results have to improve in the second half for modest guidance to be met. Hl
Morningstar’s Kristoffer Inton left his fair value on BAT at 4,350p after the June update, saying “shares look fairly valued.” The stock finished Friday roughly 9% above that. With next week’s buyback coming, BAT goes in already trading above Inton’s target heading into July 30. Morningstar
